Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to equipment for assisting in the transportation of goods on a transport vehicle, and more particularly pertains to an arrangement which enables a product to be lifted and transported by a movable crane mechanism on a transport vehicle.
Certain types of elongated products, such as telephone switchgear frames, present considerable problems in the transportation thereof. These types of products are rather bulky and cumbersome in nature, and are not susceptible of being packaged in an outer protective shipping container.
In the prior art, switchgear frames of the type discussed herein have been loaded onto a transport vehicle such as a trailer by a form of two-wheeled dolly known commercially as a ROL-A-LIFT. The dollies are positioned under the switchgear frame, and the frames are then manually pulled or pushed up a loading ramp or walkboard to the floor of the transport vehicle. A transportation arrangement of this nature suffers from several disadvantages, not the least of which is the extensive manual effort required to roll the switchgear frames up the ramp onto the transport vehicle.
Another arrangement utilized in the prior art for the handling of switchgear frames in transportation involves the use of a crane trailer. A crane trailer is a standard type of transport trailer equipped with a movable crane mechanism which travels along the length of the vehicle on a track mounted on the ceiling thereof. When the rear doors of the trailer are opened, the crane track can be extended past the end of the trailer to facilitate the loading and unloading of goods. These vehicles were used to transport telephone switchgear frames in arrangements in which chains and straps connected the switchgear frame to the crane mechanism for loading and unloading thereof. The crane mechanism is then utilized to hoist the switchgear frame to the floor level of the trailer, and the frame was then manually pushed or pulled on dollies into the trailer. While a loading arrangement of this nature is more efficient and requires less manual labor then that discussed in the previous paragraph, it frequently resulted in both cosmetic and stretch damage to the switchgear frames caused by the stresses applied thereto during the loading and unloading operation.